


Painful Memories

by MrShyRockstar



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2014-12-17
Packaged: 2018-03-01 21:10:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2787899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrShyRockstar/pseuds/MrShyRockstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony doesn't know how to help his broken friend, feelings weren't a thing he ever understood.</p>
<p>Or</p>
<p>When Tony helped Steve shave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Painful Memories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/gifts).



> This note system is weird. R&R&Enjoy the story :D This is a gift for the SteveTonyFest!! <3 <3

_What if this storm ends?_  
And I don't see you  
As you are now  
Ever again?

Outside a storm raged violently around the tower. The rain slamming against the building with the force of a waterfall, lightning struck every few seconds causing a cacophony of booms one after another. If Tony hadn’t known better he would assume Thor was the cause of it yet as far as he knew the God was still in Asgard. A bright flash of lightning lit up the dark room behind him allowing him an even better view of the man before him.

Tony trembled as he viewed the scene before him. He was stuck between confused horror and untimely awe. He had never seen something more majestic, more beautiful than Steve, broken, in that moment. The last thing Tony would consider himself is an artist, but in this moment his fingers itched for nothing more than a pen and paper.

Steve may be 6’4 of nothing but pure muscle, yet in this moment he seemed as small as a child. Steve’s tall, lean body was curled so tight he looked frail. His blonde hair was mussed from sleep most likely, a sign his wrinkled clothes confirmed. Tony knew it was wrong to think so, yet he had never seen something more beautiful than this broken man before him. “Steve?” Tony whispered leaning forward as if called by gravity yet he stayed in place as if cemented.

Tony couldn’t move despite every cell in him burning with the need to help the man before him, but his brain was smarter, his brain knew he was useless here and needed to turn around now to find help.

Upon hearing his name whispered Steve’s head snapped up so quick the movement was a slight blur to Tony, yet nothing was clearer than the devastation marring Steve’s normally sunny features. Steve’s face almost made a human representation of what Tony imagined nightmares would look like as an expressed feeling. Steve’s face was ghastly pale; his normally bright blue eyes now a dark bottomless blue. Tears tracked their way down cut cheeks in two steady streams to drip steadily off a just as cut up chin.

“Steve what happened?” Tony asked as he finally moved into the restroom only to stumble forward.

As Tony spoke, Steve’s expression twisted with agony and Tony was quite sure his heart wouldn’t survive it. Tony knew he should go get someone else, anyone else, to deal with this obvious mess of feelings before him. Feelings weren’t a thing Tony understood at all, he knew that better than anyone, yet in this moment he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

Tony stumbled until he stood next to the curled up man and fell to his knees in a manner that showed he was mostly unaware he was doing so. Tony lifted an unsteady hand slowly moving it up between them to brush his fingers across Steve’s cheeks. The storm continued to rage all around them, the force of the thunder causing a tremor through the building that seemed to amplify Steve’s own shivers. In response a shiver traveled Tony’s spine as he ran his fingers across Steve’s scruffy cheeks.

 “Steve?” Tony murmured again while moving his other hand to cup Steve’s opposite cheek to carefully cradle the man’s head within his hands. Tony forced Steve to tilt his head back so he was looking up more directly at Tony. Tony’s heart wrenched as he watched tears continuously pour from those fathomless blue eyes only to pool where his hands met cut cheeks then spill over in tiny rivers.

“ ’s really stupid,” Steve murmured softly, “I shouldn’t be so upset but I can’t-” he broke off with a soft choking sob. Steve hitched in an unsteady breath before continuing “I don’t know how to shave”. 

Whatever Tony had expected it _wasn’t_ that. Tony jerked back with a quickness that even amazed him, his hands coming to rest atop his thighs, while he sputtered “Wh-what? No I mean, why does that…” Tony trailed off clearly unsure of what he should even be asking.

Steve bit his bottom lip, pain fluttering across his face before he covered his eyes with one large hand. “B-Buck-Bucky always shaved for me. I-I never learned how, he would--” Steve’s unsteady voice broke with a soft keen of pain, he choked down a sob before he forced out the rest, “Bucky would always insist he do it and now… now I can’t…I--” Steve choked again, throat seizing up with pain.

In a movement faster than Tony could track Steve suddenly threw the hand he had covered his eyes with out to the side, slamming the side of his fist into the cabinet. The wood splintered in protest, shavings falling to the floor. “He insisted and now I can’t do something as simple as shave and, just, _why does it have to be so hard?_ ” Steve cried, breaking down completely with a violent shudder.

Tony, who had brought his hands up into the air in a defensive/surrender type position with Steve’s sudden movements, now reached forward to grip Steve’s face once more forcing the sobbing man to look up at him. “Hey, hey now, shh” Tony whispered as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do to soothe such intense grief.

Tony internally questioned if it would look bad to ask JARVIS to call Pepper… She would know exactly what to do. Tony opened his mouth to ask JARVIS to call Pepper when Steve moved in a flurry of movements again too fast for Tony to react too. One second he was kneeling beside the crying man trying to figure out the best method to comfort him while non-discreetly calling Pepper, and the next he finds himself in an awkward tangle of limbs in Steve’s lap with his face pressed into Steve’s shoulder and his hands trapped against the man’s chest.

“I can’t even do something as simple as shave and I should be able to shave and I _can’t_ ” Steve rambled amongst broken sobs, his face pressed deep within Tony’s own neck. A shiver ran down Tony’s spine at the sudden closeness, warmth and hot tears running down his neck.

Slowly, afraid to move really, Tony shifted so he was actually straddling Steve’s lap, and not just lying across it all akimbo. When Steve didn’t make any signs of even noticing the difference Tony started pushing back against Steve’s chest so he could get some distance from the man and actually look him in the face.

Steve released Tony with reluctance, hands releasing the man and falling to land next to his sides limp.

Tony frowned, “Oh Steve” he murmured while brushing his hand across the man’s cheek again. “I could teach you” he whispered before stretching up to blindly reach across the counter for the razor and shaving cream. When Tony nicked his finger on the razor he hissed softly before grabbing it. He pushed Steve gently till the man relaxed with his back pressed against the cabinet instead of being hunched over.   

Steve complied silently as he curiously watched Tony, staring silently with blurry blue eyes into Tony’s own soft brown ones while Tony gently spread the shaving cream across the spots Steve had missed or entirely screwed up. Tony slowly lifted the razor and after reaching up to rinse it off settled again to gently draw it along Steve’s jaw. Tony’s movements were swift and efficient while not once nicking Steve’s soft skin.

Upon finishing Tony grabbed a damp washcloth that was nearby and gently dabbed at Steve’s face before throwing it aside. Tony then cradled Steve’s now clean shaven face once more, the cuts from before nearly completely healed. “There, all better Cap” Tony murmured as he stared down into Steve’s much softer expression. “It’s okay Steve, Bucky isn’t here but we—I am. I’ll always help you okay?” Tony murmured, eyes flicking from one eye to the next before darting down to the softly puckered pink lips.

Steve gave Tony a watery smile while he lifted one limp hand to cradle the back of Tony’s head gently. Slowly, giving Tony plenty of time to protest, he pulled the other man forward until their lips pressed together gently. Warmth hummed through his body as if electrified. “Thank you Tony,” Steve murmured against those soft lips, twining his arm around the man’s waist to pull him closer, “for everything.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Well thats it, please leave comments below. This was by far not my first fanfiction, but it was my first for Avenger-verse. Hope you enjoyed!!


End file.
